The present invention relates to a novel power supply for electrical detector devices, and also to an electrical detector system including the novel power supply. The invention is particularly useful in small, portable battery-operated gamma radiation detectors, and is therefore described below with respect to this application, although it will be appreciated that the invention could advantageously be used in many other applications as well.
A number of detectors are known for detecting gamma radiation (produced, for example, by atomic reactors, atomic explosions, or atomic waste) in order to alert the user to a condition of excessive radiation which may be harmful or even fatal. The conventional gamma radiation detector, such as the Geiger counter, outputs electrical pulses, converted to audible or visual signals, at a rate proportional to the intensity of the gamma radiation field. Such detectors require a high operating voltage, in the order of 500 volts DC, supplied either from the AC mains or from DC batteries. A main disadvantage of the presently used battery-powered gamma radiation detectors is the large amount of energy consumed in the operation of the device because of the high operating voltage, thereby requiring frequent replacement of the batteries.